Dangerous Liaisons: Books About Madness & Obsessions

In 1606, the city of Prague shines as a golden mecca of art and culture carefully cultivated by Emperor Rudolf II. But the emperor hides an ugly secret: His bastard son, Don Julius, is afflicted with a madness that pushes the young prince to unspeakable depravity. Desperate to stem his son’s growing number of scandals, the emperor exiles Don Julius to a remote corner of Bohemia, where the young man is placed in the care of a bloodletter named Pichler. The bloodletter’s task: cure Don Julius of his madness by purging the vicious humors coursing through his veins.

When Pichler brings his daughter Marketa to assist him, she becomes the object of Don Julius’s frenzied–and dangerous–obsession. To him, she embodies the women pictured in the Coded Book of Wonder, a priceless manuscript from the imperial library that was his only link to sanity. As the prince descends further into the darkness of his mind, his acts become ever more desperate, as Marketa, both frightened and fascinated, can’t stay away.

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Last week we asked for your favorite stories about deliciously dangerous encounters and characters with madness and obsessions. Here’s a round-up of the books you suggested in the comments and on Facebook and Twitter.

anything by Chelsea Cain

Delirium by Laura Restrepo

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

Wakefield Hall by Francesa Stanfill

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake

When Rabbit Howls by Truddi Chase

The Library of Lost Books by Darius Jones

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Perfume by Patrick Suskind

Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon

The Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes by David Grann

Dare Me by Megan Abbott

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross

So Much Pretty by Cara Hoffman

What would you add?

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